細胞自噬是演化上具有高度保留的機制，其主要透過細胞自嗜體與溶脢體以分解散布在細胞質的細胞物質。在過去體外細胞培養系統之實驗中指出，宿主細胞會藉由細胞自嗜去調控其對細菌穿孔毒素的感受性，但目前仍未有於個體層級去研究細胞自嗜對於穿孔毒素所扮演的角色。此外，究竟細胞自嗜是如何被穿孔毒素所活化仍然尚未被研究。穿孔毒素藉由在宿主的細胞膜形成孔洞來毒殺宿主細胞，並且穿孔毒素也是許多人類病原菌的重要毒理因子。Cry5B是一種由Bacillus thuringiensis所產生的晶體穿孔毒素之一，其會專一性的毒殺線蟲類。由先前的Cry5B與線蟲交互作用的基因體轉錄分析研究中，我們發現當給予線蟲Cry5B後，線蟲體內的細胞自嗜相關基因會有轉錄上調的情形。本研究利用基因突變及RNA干擾的方式去降低細胞自嗜作用，發現此類操作會提高線蟲會對於Cry5B的感受性；相反地，分別利用遺傳及藥理學的方式去誘導細胞自嗜的發生，則可提高線蟲對Cry5B毒殺作用的抗性。此外，我們在利用紅色染劑若丹明去標定Cry5B的共厄焦實驗中也證明若丹明標定的穿孔毒素的訊號與細胞自嗜體的生物標識蛋白LGG-1會被引導於相同的三度空間中，這暗示了Cry5B可能會經由細胞自嗜體而降解。綜合以上的結果我們證實了當線蟲受到Cry5B穿孔毒素攻擊時，體內的細胞自嗜會被誘導並且作為保護線蟲免於穿孔毒素的毒殺的重要防禦機制。

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